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Welrod
The Welrod pistol, commonly nicknamed the Bicycle pump due to its resemblance to one, was a bolt-action integrally suppressed pistol invented by Major Hugh Reeves being developed for the British S.O.E. (Special Operative Executive) and manufactured by the Inter-Services Research Bureau (later Station IX). The Welrod was designed around the idea of covert missions in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, being suppressed to produce a noise below 73dB in volume. The name Welrod reflects the naming tradition of weapons and equipment designed at Station IX: the factory was located in an old mansion near Wel''wyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, and so the prefix ''Wel was added to everything they designed. Rod came from the weapon's shape. Design Details The Welrod was designed in an era of subterfuge, where the British government were considering missions to assassinate the leaders of Nazi Germany and bolster the resistance in France. The Welrod was therefore designed around the suppressor. This was so successful, reducing the noise produced to 73dB (even less if the gun was fired in contact with the target), that the Welrod became unofficially known as the "Assassin's Pistol". It was said to be hard to recognise the firing of a Welrod with a new set of rubber wipes as a gunshot at ranges over fifteen feet. The Welrod was, in appearance, a tube attached to a grip. The rear of the tube housed the bolt (operated via a knurled knob at the rear that was twisted a quarter-turn to the left and pulled back to open the action), breech, magazine well and trigger group, and upward-facing ejection port. The choice of bolt-action was both for silence, as the violent motions of parts in a self-loading weapon make it louder, and to allow the operator to collect spent casings more easily and so leave no sign of their presence. Similar choices were made in the development of the Welrod's spiritual cousin, the De Lisle carbine. The front section of the gun consisted of a very short ported barrel followed by a fairly unique silencer consisting of an expansion chamber in the rear followed by 14 metal baffles and three rubber wipes: these wipes did not have holes in them, meaning the first few rounds fired would punch through the rubber, which would seal again behind them: it took 10-15 rounds to punch a permanent hole in the wipes, upon which the function of the silencer would be somewhat degraded. The entire weapon measured 12.2in on the Mk II and 14.2 in on the Mk I. The Welrod was provided with sights with tritium inserts for use in low light conditions. The Welrod's ported barrel served two distinct purposes: Firstly it released the gases (produced when firing) slower than they otherwise would have been, reducing noise produced. Secondly the porting would help reduce the muzzle velocity of the 9mm variant to subsonic speeds, preventing the sonic boom that the bullet would produce when fired in normal conditions. These factors, combined with the suppressor and the fact that the muzzle had a cutaway to allow the Welrod to pushed right up against the target to further muffle the sound of firing, meant that the Welrod was an effective weapon for undercover use. The grip was simply an Ebonite rubber sheath around the magazine, meaning that it was easily removed to allow the weapon to be concealed or smuggled: without a grip, at a casual glance it could conceivably be mistaken for a mundane object such as a flashlight or section of pipe. Since the trigger group is attached to the main body of the weapon, if a round has already been chambered the Welrod can be fired with the grip detached. The Welrod had only a few cryptic markings and a non-sequential serial number, making it virtually impossible to identify its origin or manufacturer. Even these were only added by the military: there are no manufacturer markings at all. Ammunition The Welrod was designed in two different caliber sizes: 9x19mm Parabellum and .32 ACP. These were fired from two different magazine sizes, either six or eight shot capacity, with the purposes of using the two different calibers being determined by where the Welrod was being used. Variants The Welrod was produced in two different variants and a sub-variant. Bizarrely, the Mk II was produced before the Mk I. Welrod Mk II The Mk II was the less powerful variant. This version was shorter than the later Mk I, and fired the less powerful, but easier to obtain, .32 ACP round. Although official numbers are unknown, an order totalling 14,000 is thought to have been submitted to the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) in 1943: BSA denies this, and all documentation regarding Welrod production has been either misplaced or deliberately destroyed. Welrod serial numbers are not sequential, and while the highest known is #14,539, the lowest known is #2,008. It is also known that MACV-SOG used this variant in Vietnam, with some of their examples bearing a different bolt handle design and US Navy markings with the label ".32 Hand Firing Mechanism Mk. 1." Welrod Mk I The Mk I was the more powerful of the two versions of the Welrod, firing the larger 9x19mm Parabellum. It is slightly heavier, has a smaller magazine capacity and a slightly longer suppressor. The Mk I featured a number of improvements over the Mk II, including a trigger guard and the ability to unscrew the front of the integral suppressor for easier concealment: due to this, the front sight is mounted halfway along the weapon rather than at the muzzle. Sleeve gun This covert weapon was essentially a modified Welrod barrel and suppressor with the breech changed to a screw-in plug and a trigger located near the muzzle. It was designed, as its name implies, to be concealed inside the user's sleeve and fired in contact with the target: the effective range was no more than 3 yards, and the weapon could not be reloaded quickly once used. Usage The Welrod was used by British Special Operatives against Nazi Germany in the Second World War. It is unknown when the production, or indeed the service, of the Welrod ended: it was reportedly used as late as Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The Welrod was also used in the Falklands War in 1982 and the fighting in Northern Ireland. Other nations to use the Welrod were Denmark (whose special forces adopted the Welrod in the late 1940s) and various resistance forces across Europe. The Welrod was usually dropped to its users via air drops. The inventor of the Welrod has been revealed, via a government document released at the end of the Second World War (that named the inventions at Station IX to their inventor), as Major Hugh Reeves. See also * Brügger & Thomet VP9 - A modern copy of the Welrod marketed as a "Veterinary Pistol" for humanely dispatching sick animals. Resources *The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Firearms - Ian V. Hogg *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welrod *http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg/brit/welrod-silent-e.html Category:Pistols